July S, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



419 



Home-Apiary of Mr. James M. Ifohbs. of Yankton County, South Dakota. 



make a post-mortem examination to find out whether the 

 dead bugs have Paris green in their stomachs, but are satis- 

 fied with the apparent result of our spraj'ing, and the fact 

 t/iat tlie bugs are gone." 



We have taken the same ground in the case of bees. 

 The trees had been sprayed, and the bees have died as the re- 

 sult. Many scientists, however, have not been satisfied 

 with our opinionative proof. They refuse to accept what bee- 

 keepers thought they had good reason to believe. The Ohio 

 Agricultural Experiment Station has now publisht the ex- 

 periments the}' have made in order to test the matter, and 

 they hereby furnish the missing link in the chain of proof 

 now available. How minutely and extensively the work 

 was carried out may be judged from the few following facts : 



Separate analyses were made of thorax, posterior legs, 

 and abdomens of bees which were known (or at least 

 strongly suspected) to have died from arsenical poisoning 

 while working on the sprayed bloom. The bees were first 

 washt in three different ammonia waters to ascertain 

 whether any poison adhered to the bees' exteriors, and to 

 remove such. In some cases slight traces of arsenic were 

 found in the ammonia water. Thoraxes and also posterior 

 legs, with the pollen adhering, analyzed gave no traces of 

 arsenic. This is contrary to my expectations. I should 

 surely expect the pollen to contain poison as well as the 

 honey. In stored honey taken from nearly ruined colonies, 

 no traces of arsenic could be detected ; but the abdomens 

 of bees analyzed revealedunmistakable traces of the poison. 



In summing up, the station says: "We believe that 

 we have the first conclusive proof of the effect on bees of 

 the use of arsenical poisons in the orchard while trees are 

 in bloom. We can see no other conclusion that can be 

 drawn from the result of our experiments than that bees 

 are liable to be poisoned by spraying the bloom of fruit- 

 trees, the liability increasing in proportion as the weather 

 is favorable for the activity of the bees ; that all bloom 

 must have fallen from the trees before the danger will have 

 ceast." 



The bee-keepers of our land owe the Experiment Sta- 

 tion of Ohio a vote of thanks. 



One more point I wish the station had not been silent 

 on. I should like to know the whole truth. It would in- 

 terest me to know how much of a crop these trees, sprayed 

 while in bloom, bore as compared with the others not so 

 sprayed. Our esteemed friend, E. T. Abbott, said at the 

 Buffalo convention, that a fruit-blossom is so delicate it 

 can not even bear a drenching of water, much less of Bor- 

 deaux or Paris-green mixture. If that is true, spraying it 

 would necessarily and totally ruin the fruit crop, and no 

 sensible fruit-grower would try that more than once. I, at 

 the same time, gave expression to my view, that spraying 

 the bloom might not prove to be so damaging to the fruit 

 prospects, as it would be useless and unnecessary work. 

 The Ohio Experiment Station should be in position to de- 

 cide that point. If the fruit-grower could be made to be- 

 lieve that he would injure his fruit crop by spraying the 

 bloom, then, of course, he would not spray. But I believe 

 it is always best not to exaggerate, but stay within the 

 limits of truth, if we know what that is. — Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture. Ontario Co., N. Y. 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth work- 

 ing for. Look at them. 



Wintering- Bees— Manag-ing Natural Swarming-. 



BY J. M. HOBBS. 



BY referring to the illustration herewith, it will be seen 

 that my hives are all in one continuous line, resting on 

 2x4 joists, 14 inches apart, and one brick above the 

 ground. These joists are spiked together with a cross- 

 piece every six feet, so they are kept from canting or 

 springing, and are all on a level, but one-half inch higher 

 at the back. Two feet back of the row of hives is a row of 

 posts eight feet apart, three feet in the ground, and five 

 feet above the ground, and in a line with the hives. Then 

 five feet in front of them, and in line both ways is another 

 row six feet above the ground ; then a cross-piece is nailed 

 from one post to the other. This makes the pitch for the 

 roof. The roof-boards are put on lengthwise, and shingled 

 the same as any roof. 



For the rear side I nail on six-inch fence-boards six 

 inches apart ; this lets the air pass thru in hot days in sum- 

 mer. I cut a gate out of the rear side to swing out, having 

 three in the cut referred to. A gate makes it handy to 

 manipulate at all times, as the operator is behind the bees. 



My bees face the south, and the front is boarded down 

 from the top just far enough to keep the hot sun from the 

 front of the hives. Each hive has a slanting board in front 

 for the bees to alight on, and the hives are eight inches 

 apart, and each hive-front of a different color, while the 

 hives are in about three different colors, and properly ar- 

 ranged on the stand. 



In front of this stand all the ground should be as clean 

 as a floor for a rod or so. I sweep all the dead bees away 

 once a week ; this prevents the ants and other pests from 

 accumulating near the hives, and also makes it easy to find 

 defective queens in swarming-time. 



Now, as regards wintering : When the season is far 

 enough advanced, say about November, I put the inside 

 packing on, which is an empty super filled with chaff — 

 wheat or oats, and fine and dry. I put a thin cotton cloth 

 on the frames over the bees, then set the super on. I do 

 not press the chaff, but put it in lightly. Under the cloth 

 and on the frames I have a device something like Hill's, 

 made out of barrel staves, which lets the bees pass over the 

 frames, and works nicely. The hive-covers rest down over 

 the hive about an inch. This completes the inside packing. 



Then I fill in behind the hives and between them to 

 their tops with dry straw ; this leaves only two open spaces 

 in the rear side of the bee-house, and these I stop by put- 

 ting two more six-inch boards in between those already on ; 

 then all are ready for winter. 



I have some old strips of carpet which I put iii front 

 of the hives, and in very bad, blowing snow-storms I let 

 them down over the front of the hives. I leave a bee-space 

 four inches wide open in front ; when the weather is fine 

 and I want the bees to have a flight, I turn up the carpet 

 and put it down again at night. 



In the spring I wait until the bees show signs of being 

 well built up with young bees before I remove the packing, 

 and take the inside packing off last, when ready to put on 

 empty supers. I have had very good results by these 

 methods. 



Now as to my success with swarming : In the first 

 place, I have, as you can see, nothing in the front of my 

 bees but a very few low plum trees, so close to the hives 

 that the bees will not alight on them when swarming. 

 Everything that they could settle upon is what I improvise 



